Donald Trump liked to brag that everything he did was bigger and better than “anyone has ever seen in history.” The one thing he was actually very good at was appointing ridiculously unqualified candidates to serve in very important positions. One of the clearest examples of this was Betsy Devos, the sister of a Trump donor with absolutely no background in education, who was appointed the Secretary of Education.
A federal judge on Wednesday said that former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos must testify in a class-action lawsuit over her handling of student loan forgiveness claims https://t.co/8ObMXKWHJv
— POLITICO (@politico) May 20, 2021
Devos, in short order, repealed the ban on for-profit colleges implemented by President Obama and spoke out publicly against “government gifts” like student loan forgiveness for college students duped by these colleges and against government-funded two-year programs. Summarily, more than 160,000 American students were denied student loan forgiveness while Devos said that the Trump administration’s policy was not yet written.
Now, she’ll have to testify in an investigation as to why those students were denied.
According to POLITICO:
‘The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of roughly 160,000 borrowers who applied to the Education Department for loan forgiveness, on the grounds that they were defrauded by their for-profit colleges.’
Former Education Sec. DeVos must testify in a class-action lawsuit about her handling of student loan forgiveness claims, which involved delays in the admin.'s decision-making and ultimate denial of a significant number of the applications, judge rules.https://t.co/9JsAgaA8UK
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 20, 2021
Although both Devos and the Biden administration argued that she shouldn’t testify, she will do so under oath, with students allowed to ask questions in front of a judge about their cases. Trump, whose own Trump University was forced to refund students who had been duped into signing up and paying for a fraudulent education program, has never addressed the issue.
‘Alsup, a Clinton appointee in the Northern District of California, ruled that DeVos must sit for a three-hour deposition in which attorneys for the student borrowers may question her under oath about the decisions she made regarding the loan forgiveness program.’
California judge says ex-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos must testify in student loan suit https://t.co/NB3gH1yrnQ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 20, 2021
Federal Judge William Alsup said that the vague policies and the administration’s inability to define them was an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ that required Devos to testify. Of course, most of Trump’s policies were the same, so the country can look forward to more investigations like these in the future.
‘In his 12-page decision Wednesday, Alsup said that those questions about the credibility of the Trump administration’s explanations and “sparse” documentation of its decision-making were among the “extraordinary circumstances” that warranted DeVos’ testimony.’
A reminder that we’re suing DOJ to turn over communications between Bill Barr and Erik Prince—a six-figure Trump and GOP donor, co-founder of defense contractor Blackwater and brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. https://t.co/GTyLnAjgek
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 19, 2021
